In England the burden of history weighs heavily on common law, that unwritten code of time-honored laws derived largely from English judicial custom and precedent. ███
Intro to Topic ·English common law
Unwritten body of law that comes from a long history of jurisprudence.
Theoretical Reason ·The law is a unified coherent system
At any given moment, the law can be understood as a logical whole, a coherent system. The past matters only in that it represents past states of the system.
To study common law historically means to pay attention to fiction, perception, and memory. Tradition also means rewriting and adapting to contemporary circumstances.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Problem-analysis
11.
Which one of the following ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
The author explains the “political” reason modern jurisprudence treats law as a unified system of rules. We need to believe in the logic of law in order to maintain the “prestige of the legal institution.” Without maintaining this prestige, the public will be demoralized. So “political” means something related to maintaining the prestige or strength or public belief in an institution.
a
concerned with the ████ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ █ ██████████
We have no reason to think “political” is connected to advancement in a profession. Nothing in the end of P2 relates to one’s career or professional advancement.
b
concerned with the ██████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████ █████ █████
We have no reason to think “political” is connected to unethical methods of the government. Nothing in the end of P2 relates to the unethical government methods.
c
having to do ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███ █████████
As described in the end of P2, “political” relates to the prestige and perceived fairness of the legal institution. The ethical standards between professionals and nonprofessionals is a separate issue. Ethical standards relate to things like fraud, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, etc. Ethical standards are about how professionals treat the public. But “political” in context involves the relationship between the legal institution and the public, not between individual professionals (such as lawyers) and the public.
d
having to do ████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██ █████████████ █████████████
This best captures the meaning of “political” as shown by the discussion at the end of P2. In order to maintain the effectiveness of the legal institution, we need people to believe law is a logical, coherent whole. The author doesn’t use the word “effectiveness,” but it’s reasonable to think that if the public is demoralized by law, and if the legal institution loses its prestige, that it would become less effective.
e
having to do ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████
The discussion at the end of P2 doesn’t involve the way law is seen by “radical theorists.” It does involve the way law is seen by the public; but we have no reason to think the perception of “radical theorists” is relevant to the meaning of “political.”
Difficulty
66% of people who answer get this correct
This is a difficult question.
It is similar in difficulty to other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%143
155
75%168
Analysis
Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
Critique or debate
Law
Problem-analysis
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
2%
159
b
7%
157
c
22%
161
d
66%
165
e
2%
159
Question history
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